UMI is healing

The singer-songwriter’s sophomore album, ‘People Stories’, shows us we’re not alone as we might think.

September 28, 2025

UMI has long turned vulnerability into music for healing. From YouTube covers to her 2017 debut single ‘Happy Again’, to her first studio album, Forest in the City, the singer-songwriter’s work is consistently packed with emotion. But this time, the twenty-six year old isn’t just telling her own story. With her latest album, People Stories, UMI steps into the role ofthe storyteller, turning the mic to her fans, friends and family, and weaving their heartbreaks, revelations and love letters into a work that refuses to be confined by genre. “You’ve probably noticed the album is not just one sound because, to me, my sound is not about sticking to one,” UMI tells me. The Seattle- born singer-songwriter has long resisted being boxed in, referring to her music as a “feeling” rather than a category — a philosophy that comes alive more than ever in People Stories.

The album is more than just a collection of songs. It’s an open book, driven by the idea that we’re all connected by the same lessons, even if they come dressed “in a different colour”. Whether she’s transforming a fan’s first date into a ballad, or laying bare her own anxieties in raw, pouring verses — like in track six, ‘RAIN RAIN’ — UMI proves that personal and collective healing can sit side by side. Grounded in meditation, prayer and community (she even starts each of her shows with a group meditation), the artist is reminding us that even the most personal stories can relate to everyone.

Umi wears jacket and shirt by ADIDAS, bikini bottoms by ANALEIA and shoes by JIMMY CHOO.

Yasmine Medjdoub: For People Stories, you played the storyteller for other people. What was that process like?

UMI: Writing from the perspective of the storyteller has first reminded me that no matter how specific someone’s life is — you know, I’m taking these stories where I’m on Discord and I’m asking my fans, Send me the story of your breakup, or, Send me a story of a psychedelic journey you’ve been on — I’m like, Whoa, I’ve felt all these emotions before. It’s reminded me as a songwriter that you can write any story for anybody and you can always see yourself in it. I think that’s a very powerful reminder because that can help us feel less alone. And it was really interesting to realise, like, everybody, we’re all kind of living the same life, just in a different colour. We’re learning the same lessons at the same times, just our own version based on our own path.

YM: How did you take those stories and make them into a song?

U: It was a mixture of what I was feeling that day at the studio – that would dictate the stories I would ask people to send me. And then from there, I would pick the one that felt the most exciting to me. When we were making the song ’10AM’, I was asking, What does love mean? And my friend was telling me about how love is waking up at 10am and knowing there’s nowhere else you want to be but having breakfast in bed with your partner. It just made my heart feel something. I’m also very visual, so every feeling has a colour, every sound has a colour. So I’d be like “10AM’ is very blue: the story that they told me is very blue. It was all about making the sound colours match the colour of the feeling.

YM: You’ve previously used the word ‘feeling in lieu of a genre. How did this mindset shape your decisions for this new album?

U: It was honestly a little bit nerve-wracking. I went through so many spirals of hating the album, wanting to quit music, not believing in myself, because I think the way I approach my music is just not typical. Especially for a Black girl, where, if you start making R&B music, it’s like you’re just expected to always do that. I still love my R&B, but to let myself make a OT sans, rove me. y’m surand it’s internal and a lot of people don’t even project that onto me, but I think it’s this fear of, if I make something that’s not typical to what someone who looks like me is supposed to make, will it still be successful? Will it still be understood? So when it was time to pick the songs, I had to turn my judgement off and just let myself be. I hope that it inspires people to not be so one dimensional, because I don’t think anyone’s one dimensional.

Umi wears jacket and shirt by ADIDAS and bikini bottoms by ANALEIA.

YM: The inclusion of your therapist’s voice on the album is a very personal and vulnerable choice. What do you hope listeners will take from that?

U: I wanted to infuse a bit more of my own humanity in it. Because when I was making the album, all I was doing was making music and going to therapy. A whole year was just that. I was like, What’s the most intimate thing I could share with people? Oh, yeah, my therapy sessions. The whole point of the album is getting people to share more about themselves. It was just me being as vulnerable as possible to invite people to also be as vulnerable as possible.

YM: You do weekly livestreams with your fans, where you have lots of philosophical conversations about the universe. How have these weekly conversations with your fans influenced you?

U: Y’all are just the homies and we all go through the same things and we have the same questions. I’m giving advice from my personal experience, so it feels like sharing and teaching, but it also feels like learning at the same time. It’s really healing for me, and I think doing those calls has reminded me, again, that we all live the same life. And it’s reminding myself – and just the music industry as a whole – that fans are people. They’re actual people with real lives. It brings the humanness and the spirit back into music.

Umi wears dress by ZARA and bracelet by KILLACCESS.

YM: You’re very big on rituals, such as meditation and daily affirmations.
How do these practices influence your music?

U: It impacts the feeling of the music because I’m so aware of the way you speak about yourself, the kindness you give to yourself — how much that really does change your life. To me, music is the number one way you can hypnotise people. Every time I sing, I sing from love. I go on the mic and I remove my fears. So when people hear it, they can access pure love and joy and understanding and relatability through it. It makes me very intentional about the way I make music and am on stage. I have sticky notes on my mirror that are, like, ‘I am safe to be myself’. So when I go on stage, I have to live by that, you know? I’m fully myself. I embody that full freedom so that people can go home and be like, Oh, I can come out to my parents, or, I can quit my job because I don’t resonate with it. I really think seeing freedom can empower freedom.

YM: You also guide audiences into meditation as part of your live performances. What moment stands out most to you from these experiences?

U: I open every show with a meditation. And my favourite feeling is seeing people before I do the meditation – I can tell some people just got off work; some people are like, We were in traffic – and there’s all this energy and different feelings of nervousness in the room And we do the meditation and when I open my eyes again, everybody is just calm. There’s a sense of like, Ah. Like an exhale that I just open my eyes and see. And then I start the show. That is the most rewarding and calming feeling in the whole world, and seeing that happen everywhere from the US to China, to Japan, to Europe, every place I’ve visited – seeing that, I can’t put into words. That is the best feeling ever.